


So can we dance? (Through an avalanche?)

by dontshootmesara



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:15:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23256055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontshootmesara/pseuds/dontshootmesara
Summary: "Sara, we need to talk, I need your help."  Nate stood on the other side of the kitchen counter looking worried."What did you do?"Nate watched her for a moment with a guilty face and lowered his voice to speak "I may have told my mom that we are dating."OrNate asks Sara to be his fake girlfriend and she agrees.What can go wrong?
Relationships: Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe
Comments: 44
Kudos: 203





	1. Hurry up, I'm about to make a bad decision.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello guys!
> 
> So this is a story I've been thinking to write since I saw the prompt on Twitter and last month I decided to give it a shot and here we are :) 
> 
> I hope y'all have fun.
> 
> I wanna thank my beautiful friends that helped me with my writing.   
> and the amazing @julesharkavy for beta reading, I love you.

_10 am_

On a very cold Saturday morning Sara woke up groaning with a headache probably caused by her lack of sleep. She had worked on the night shift for the past two months and when she got home in the mornings she was barely capable of going to bed and taking her boots off. The sun was still shining and burning her skin every morning because she forgot to close the drapes before falling asleep. 

_"Fuck"_ Sara grunted changing her position in bed and taking the opportunity to take her jeans off. She hid her head under the pillow thinking about how she felt so cold but yet the sun was still burning her face but she had more important things to do than think about that, one of them was to look for a bottle of water to relieve her dry throat.

When she finished drinking the whole bottle, Sara decided to take a shower and put on some clean and comfortable pajamas that could provide her a better sleep. Her phone started to ring, which she ignored as she walked to the bathroom. Tonight they would celebrate Zari and Charlie’s trip to Australia, all her friends would be there and she needed to be in a good mood and that wasn't going to happen if she didn't get to sleep for more than 4 hours.

But again… Her phone was still demanding attention.

“What?” Sara’s voice sounded a little annoyed. 

_“Ugh, sorry”_ Sara heard the little groans of relief that he made, _“Please tell me you’re going to Zari and Charlie’s farewell party.”_

“Of course I’m going, Nate, Zari’s my best friend. Remember?” Sara scratched her forehead impatiently “Is everything alright buddy?” 

“Yeah. I don’t know, maybe I screwed up this time.”

“Why am I not surprised?” 

“Because it’s me?”

She laughed. 

“Yeah, right. Look I’ll see you at 9 pm, Zari’s house, okay?” Sara didn’t wait for Nate’s answer to hang up the phone. 

She placed her phone on the bedside table and walked towards the bedroom to close the curtains, decreasing the ambient light. Sara couldn’t avoid being worried. He’s one of her best friends and she always felt responsible for them, so when he called her at a time of day that he knew she would be sleeping… Well, something just felt off.

  
  


***

“Speech! Come on, Cap.”

“Okay, Okay. But honestly y’all are the worst!” Sara took a deep breath and raised her glass “Zari and Charlie when I introduced you two I never thought that we would end up right here with Charlie kidnapping my friend to live in another country.. Ughhh, I really am terrible at this.” People laughed at her little embarrassment, Charlie took advantage of the moment to kiss Zari's forehead. “Anyways” Sara continued “You two are amazing together, I know everything will be awesome, and whenever you guys need it, just know that we will be there to welcome you two back. ”

Zari smiled lightly, whispering a “thank you” to Sara.

After Sara’s speech, Ray took the opportunity to show a PowerPoint presentation with all the embarrassing pics the group took together through the years. She left the living room to get another drink. 

"Sara, we need to talk, I need your help." Nate stood on the other side of the kitchen counter looking worried.

"What did you do?" 

Nate watched her for a moment with a guilty face and lowered his voice to speak "I may have told my mom that we are dating."

Sara choked on her drink as he kept talking.

"Sara please. I was out of options, you're my only female friend who is single." 

"So what? You thought it was a good idea to tell your mom that we're together, you freak?"

"Well first I said that I was seeing someone but she kept asking me about the girl, I got nervous and said it was you." Sara rolled her eyes to Nate and filled her glass again, this conversation was getting on her nerves.

"Look, you can pretend whatever you want to your family, I guess, If" Sara pointed a finger at him "... this situation doesn't affect my life that much."

"Yeah, about that..." 

"Just tell me."

"I agreed with my mom that we will spend the New Year's day at their beach house and that we'll arrive two days before that...It’s gonna be three days" 

"Please say this is a joke."

"Oh come on, it's not a big deal. It's just a few days and it will be only the family, and well, some of my parent’s closest friends.." 

Sara rolled her eyes and put both hands on the table.

"It’s not a big deal?” She became more surprised as she thought about Nate's idea. "It never crossed your mind that maybe ... I don't know, I might have plans?"

“Do you?” 

“That’s not the point, Nate.”

"So? what's wrong?" 

"I don't like those dates." Sara took another sip of her whiskey, Nate had really pissed her off, but still. He’s one of her best friends and with Zari and Charlie leaving and Ray being a father and raising a family with Nora their little group was growing apart, so maybe this wasn’t a bad idea after all. 

“Come on, Sara. Do I have to beg? Remember that time I helped you with your alibi? and I never ask you anything ab-”

“Dude, can you shut up?” Sara interrupted him, taking a quick look around to see if anyone had heard what they were talking about “ Are you gonna blackmail me now?”

“NO! Please, I’d never do that. I was just trying to remind you about our friendship” Nate looked very nervous, Sara couldn't understand why his parent’s approval had become so important to him right now. 

"Look I already decided to help you so you don’t need to bring that up-"

Nate sighed with relief, "Thank you."

“-But why do you need to do this? You never needed your parent’s approval.”

“It’s kind of complicated…” 

“Well, try me. I’m pretty smart.” Sara narrowed her eyes.

Nate reached for a stool near the kitchen counter and sat down. “ You know I have a perfect sister, right?” Sara agreed “...well, she’s engaged and this year she will bring her fiancé to our beach house to spend the holidays with us.”

“Her fiancé? Wait. Your sister is gay? Why have you never mentioned that?” 

“What?? Well, you never asked me” He rubbed his forehead “Sara, let’s focus on my problem okay? forget about my sister.” 

“Is she hot?” Sara continued pushing Nate’s buttons.

“This is disturbing. Let’s stop talking about her, huh?” 

“Aren’t you a little bit old to be mad at your parents because they prefer your sister?” Sara laughed, pouring another shot of whiskey into her glass.

“Oh please, you deal with the same shit with Laurel.” 

“Yeah but I don’t need my parent’s approval or to prove a point to anyone. I'm a mature person.”

“Yeah, you avoid them instead. How mature is that?”

“Look, I’ll help you, okay? Be cool. However this better not bite me in the ass."

"It won't. I Promise. I’ll send you a text with the details about everything. Once we are on the road, we can figure out how we're gonna act around my family." 

Sara nodded and started walking towards the living room. 

“Oh, and one more thing…” Sara turned to him with a very annoyed face, _isn’t that bullshit already enough?_ “... You should change your relationship status on Facebook."

***

Sara was sitting at the kitchen window near the staircase that leads to the rooftop, finishing her oatmeal and looking at the sunrise. She took a deep breath and remembered the promise she had made to Nate the week before. it would be so easy to ignore the open suitcase on her bed, waiting for her to decide which outfit would be best to impress Nate's parents. That just made her wonder about the previous relationships she had and if she ever had to think about what to wear to meet the parents of the person she was dating.

She never met the parents. It was not her thing, not something she was looking for. Relationships are complicated, she told herself, so there’s no point in getting involved with someone that will end up being a stranger to you. It was just too much energy expended for nothing. Of course, that didn’t stop her from relating to people, she had dates, sometimes she went out with the same person more than once and sometimes she had one night stands.

_Ughhh_ , she snorted.

Why does she have so many thoughts in her head about relationships right now? Her love life is going pretty well but then Nate said that thing about her being the only single female friend he had. It’s his fault.

It was Ray's fault, who at the beginning of the year decided to move from the city to the suburb and, of course, and Zari and Charlie’s fault, for looking so good and happy together. 

  
  


Sara stood up, took a deep breath and shouted at the city that was waking up.

“HEEEY, COUPLES Y'ALL SUCK!!”

“GO TO SLEEP, LOSER!” A voice from nowhere, probably a neighbor, screamed angrily at her. 

Sara decided that the best thing was to go back inside and finish packing anyway. 

  
  


***

The moment Nate stopped the car Sara was absolutely sure about how stupid Nate’s idea was, letting it out a tired sigh she unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car. Heywood's house was huge. She glanced over their private beach thinking that maybe the whole thing isn't that bad. The place was amazing and the house was huge so, hopefully, there’s enough space for everybody to avoid each other. 

_Cool_. 

However, the place was kind of isolated, what if she wanted to go back to Star City? They traveled in Nate's car. If she needed a way to escape, it wouldn't be that easy to do right away, as they walked towards the entrance hall she made a mental note to talk to Laurel if she needed someone to rescue her. She should know that it was a bad idea. Now she was stuck with him and his family for a holiday pretending to be in love, not to mention updating her relationship status on her Facebook page which made her spend a lot of time explaining the whole thing to their friends and to Laurel. People from her work had left comments and likes on the post, that amount of sharing was more than she ever had since she started to attend as a resident at the hospital.

Well, right now it had been really hard to demonstrate love for Nate.

“Let’s go, Sara. My parents are already waiting for us.”

She forced a smile.

“Okay then.” 

As the door shut behind them, Sara tried to look chill and if it was necessary, to put into practice all the drama classes she took in high school. 

“Mom? Dad?”

“Please come on in, Nathaniel.” A woman greeted them from the living room, she hugged him before Nate had time to put his suitcase on the floor “ Oh, I’ve missed you so much!! And you are Sara I suppose? Come here give me a hug.”

Sara felt super awkward as the other woman hugged her.

“I’m so glad you’re finally here, darling. Ava is still stuck in traffic but she’ll be here soon.” His mom said. 

“Nice. I-" 

“Before she arrives I have to tell you just try not to mention Carly, they broke up.” Dorothy interrupted him " She's devastated, poor thing."

_"Oh so the sister is no longer bringing any fiance. Great."_ Sara thought, concerned, she was kind of glad to have another outsider there and now it’ll only be her _. Great._

“Ouch, that's harsh, mom." 

"Nothing better to mend a broken heart than get your head deep into work, I'm pretty sure your sister will be alright." A man, who Sara assumed was Nate's father, showed up walking down the stairs to greet them "Hello, I'm Hank Heywood." 

"Hey Dad" Nate nodded to him, wrapping an arm around Sara "This is Sara Lance, my girlfriend."

Sara held out her hand and forced a smile at him "Hello, Hank."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Lance. It's been a while since Nathaniel brought someone to meet us. You must be a special girl."

"Oh, so nice to meet you, Hank!" Sara opened another big smile.

"She definitely is, dad!" Nate held her close.

"Now, I'm sure you two love birds are tired from the road. I'm gonna show you to your room so you can rest before dinner."

"Oh, that's amazing, Dorothy. Thank you." Sara wrapped her arms around Nate's waist, leaning her head on his chest as she kept smiling at the older couple.

_Lovebirds?? Oh Lord, what kind of story Nate has told to them._

***

"Deeply in love?" Sara breathed "Why couldn't you tell her that, I don't know, we were in a very normal and boring relationship?"

"What was I supposed to say? I didn't want her to think I was failing in a relationship."

"Come on, man, you aren't in a relationship at all." 

“Can You shush???" Nate whispered before he ran to the door "My mom used to listen behind doors when Ava and I were teens, maybe she maintains old habits.”

Sara laughed.

She sat down in the armchair near to the bathroom and peeked across the room to the bed they would share for three days. “Thank God this bed is big enough for both of us to sleep without entering each other's space.”

He nodded. “Once we're having dinner together they're gonna ask stuff like how we met, or how we realized we were in love..”

“Ugh…”

“Sara, please..” He continued “ Remember our cover story: We have been friends for so long and someday we realized… That we were in love with each other.. Romantically style.” 

“Wow..” Sara scoffed “keep practicing that and maybe they will believe. I can’t believe you work with History.” 

Nate threw a pillow at her.

***

They walked towards the dining room talking quietly, recapping their relationship story. Sara knew she’s a good liar when she wanted. The question was: Would she have the patience to keep that lie for three days? 

“Come on, give me your hand.”

“What?”

“Give me your hand, Sara. Boyfriend and girlfriend do this kind of stuff.” Nate frowned, sweating signs starting to appear on his forehead.

“Dude, can you please calm the fuck down?” Sara put one of her hands on his shoulders “We got this, okay?”

Nate sighed.

“Now let’s go to fool your family”


	2. Late night conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara and Ava finally meet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys!  
> I hope you're having fun reading this. Sorry if I didn't introduce Ava in the first chapter haha, so I hope to make up for it in this one.
> 
> Oh, and I didn't say this when I started to publish this story but... English isn't my first language so if there are any mistakes or anything, I'm sorry about that. 
> 
> I want to thank my friends: Monique, Gabriella and Pats for helping me by reading, correcting and having conversations about the story. They're so amazing.
> 
> Alright,  
> Have fun.

Sara opened her eyes and snorted. Beside her, Nate was sleeping peacefully and she envied him. Giving up going back to sleep, she searched for her phone on the bedside table.

Well, Laurel didn’t answer her yet about being her rescue savior. At the moment she had changed her relationship status on Facebook, her sister had texted her asking why she hadn't been told about that before and why on Earth Sara was dating Nate? Sara had to explain everything about the lie. 

There were three more messages, one from Zari calling her "Nate's girl" for the third time in the day, another one from work asking about changing her shift next month and one from Sam, the girl that works at the coffee shop beside the hospital, asking Sara about their date which she completely forgot about. _Great._

She decided to answer Zari. 

* * *

**Messenger**

_Zari T._

_Sun 10:15 pm:_

hey Nate’s girl

how’s the family meeting?

did his mom already talk 

about marriage and kids

Haha funny 

didn’t know you had a sense of humor

his family is alright

we didn’t talk about babies 

but it was awkward anyways

weird

when I spent that awful Thanksgiving

with them

Dorothy tried to set me up with Nate 

with a pretty obvious conversation about this kind of stuff 

hahaha

maybe she thought you are not the one 

maybe she still thinks u are

fuck u 

besides Ava made it pretty clear that I’m not into guys

Did u know her?

why u never told me?

and what did u mean when u said made it pretty clear?

well well did I smell interest? 

u smell nothing Z

ur in another side of the world

alright

1\. yes I know her, she’s cool

2\. you never asked me, loser

3\. Idk if I want to tell u ;)

okay then

I’m gonna send to yr dad that pic of u at the strip club

with that chick

in yr LAP

  
  


there’s a place in Hell for people like you

okay

It’s nothing that serious, she just told her mom to stop

bc I’m into lady parts just like she is

hahaha Dot got so embarrassed 

seriously?

dude

it’s so weird that I didn’t remember her

at Nate’s birthday party

and she knew who I am

what???

WAITT

Charlie is back gtg

keep me updated!!!1!

* * *

She stared at the ceiling, her mind floating with memories about the dinner. 

_“Just chill, okay?” Sara rested a hand on Nate’s shoulder as they walked to the dining room._

_“... It’s alright, dad. I've already arranged a meeting with Kevin and his lawyers to talk about investing 60% and-”_

_“Are you sure this is enough, Ava?”_

_“Please, Hank! We already talked about having business conversations when we are eating..”_

_“Well..”_

_“Oh look, Nathaniel and his girlfriend are here.” Dorothy announced them making Hank and Ava turn their heads to look, which made Sara's cheeks flush a little “Did you kids rest well from the travel?”_

_“Yes, Dorothy. Thanks.” Sara answered, noticing the other woman sitting near Hank. She didn’t pay that much attention to Nate talking with his sister until…_

_“... Ava, this is-”_

_“..Sara Lance.”_

_Sara finally got her head back in the conversation. “Do you know me?”_

_“Ugh... Kind of” Ava awkwardly answered, “You were at the party... Nathaniel’s birthday, I don’t know, maybe a year ago??” Ava swallowed a big sip of wine saving time while everyone on the table looked at her “maybe two years..”_

_Sara crossed her arms, smirking at Ava “I must have done a good impression for you to still remember my name after a year or two.”_

_Ava looked a bit uncomfortable at what Sara said, her cheeks flushing a soft pink, what nobody seemed to have noticed, but then less than a second after that her spine got straight and her jaw clenched as she leaned her eyes to Sara. “Who said it was good?”_

_"Well-"_

_“BABE!! Don’t you remember?? We promised to tell mom how we started dating.” Nate stopped Sara before she continued the provocation._

_She turned herself to look at him and forced a smile “Of course!”_

After Nate's interruption, Sara didn't have any direct interaction with Ava. The taller woman spent a significant time of dinner in silence. Drinking wine and making sharp comments about what they were talking about. Sara found the woman a pain in the ass, but she chose not to pay much attention because Ava was going through a breakup, an engagement breakup, so it probably wasn't the best time to be in a love and relationship conversation.

When they walked back to the bedroom, after dinner, Nate was mad at her, he kept asking her how she met Ava and of course, she had no clue.

_“Please tell me you didn’t fuck my sister.”_

_“What? No!” Sara frowned “I don’t know.”_

_“Look, I was high at that party, remember?” She continued._

_“Yeah... I don’t know.”_

_“I drank so much and I remember that after 1 am we drank that thing with John??” She looked at Nate searching for some kind of confirmation._

_“I don’t know, Sara. I already was super drunk.” Nate rubbed his temple. "Did you remember making out with someone at that party?"_

_"Not clearly… I mean, it's possible."_

_“Ughhh, why was my sister there?”_

_"Well… She’s hot.” Sara lifted her eyebrow at him with a mocking look as she continued “It Makes me wonder about which family member beauty came from and why you didn't receive any.”_

_"Heyy, I’m very attractive and..” Nate stopped for a moment to think about something to say and jabbed a finger to the door “...Don't flirt with her, as you did at dinner."_

_Sara spread her arms wide, with an annoyed expression of "what can I do?" on her face. “I was just being myself.”_

_"Well just try not to get into my sister's pants when you are supposed to be my girlfriend?"_

_" I DID NOTHING NATE"_

_"I know you, okay?" Nate sat on the bed " Remember when you stole that girl Behrad was flirting with? Last month?"_

_"Okay what's the deal with your family and remembering dates?"_

_"Cap!!"_

_"FINE!!" Sara stood up and walked towards the bathroom "I'm gonna take a shower and sleep, I've had enough of the Heywood's for a lifetime and it was just the first day."_

While she was scrolling through her Instagram feed, Sara kept thinking about Nate's family. When they arrived, Dorothy asked them to avoid talking to Ava about her ex, Carly, or talk about breakups or anything that could remind her about "The fiancé" but then, at dinner, the older woman couldn't stop talking about relationships and how happy they were that Nate finally found someone and then when Dorothy realized what she had said… Well. 

_“..Of course you will find someone as well, darling.”_ Sara let out a soft laugh as she remembered Ava’s face when Dorothy said that, the irritation shining on Ava’s face as her mom held her hand. 

Which led to the most important moment of the night: “OMG MOM I’M THE ONE WHO ENDED THE RELATIONSHIP WITH CARLY!”

That information was… something. They all pictured Ava as the one who was dumped, but that’s not what happened. 

She checked the time again, it was 2 am. Her mind still thinking about what happened at Nate's party, trying to remember something that could connect them. 

_Would Ava have an Instagram account? Maybe she could look it up_ , Sara thought, _one look would be harmless and it might be useful to remember what happened between them at Nate's Birthday party._

Well, she wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon. 

She tucked her earphones into her ears and blasted music. 

She looked for Ava Heywood. 

No account with that name appeared. 

_Of course the lady doesn't have an Instagram_ , Sara mocked. _Or, maybe she’s hiding_.

_Maybe Nate had a picture with her on his own page._

Nothing. He had nothing. Sara decided to go through his followers and, well, there wasn’t any Ava Heywood.

But an Ava Sharpe. 

With a locked account. 

_What a dork._

That solved nothing and just made her feel more frustrated. Sara found herself wondering whether or not it would be weird to start following Ava right now, or if she should interact more with the woman before that. 

Sara huffed, feeling frustrated with herself and all this unexpected situation with Nate’s sister. She started throwing old memories of Nate’s birthday party around in her mind again. It was so unlike her being so drunk that she couldn't remember what happened there. Well, she wasn’t only drunk, she was also high. But before the night got weird she did flirt with a girl. In the kitchen of John’s house. 

Sara closed her eyes and tried to focus on remembering details of that night. 

It was such a stupid pickup line, but it worked. She had made out with the woman. 

_Oh, man._ Was that woman Nate’s sister? 

_Nah, not possible._

Sara huffed again, _“well, fuck it_.” 

****

Ava yawned for the third time in less than 10 minutes. She thought that counting how many times you yawned was a sign that maybe it’s time to go to sleep. It was impossible for her to be productive with so much fatigue on her body. 

She stretched her back, turning her neck from side to side, keeping her eyes closed. 

“You should be sleeping.”

“JEEZ!” Ava gasped, her heart skipping a beat “Thank you for the heart attack.” 

Sara smiled slightly. “Sorry about that, I came for some water. ” 

“Alright” Ava narrowed her eyes in a sarcastic smile.

Ava leaned down her eyes again on the paper she was trying to read before but the moment she realized Sara got distracted looking for a glass, she raised her head again to watch the shorter blonde.

“It’s in the cupboard on your left.”

Sara turned to glance at Ava and waved _“Thanks”_. She filled the glass with water and walked over to the kitchen table where Ava was working and sat in the chair opposite her. _That was unexpected_.

Ava decided to not pay attention to the other woman and tried to focus on the pile of paper in front of her. 

“What are you doing?” Ava lifted her head to look at Sara.

“Nothing.” Sara answered, leaning back in her chair, she pointed at Ava’s eyebrows “The little frown you do, with your eyebrows when you're reading… It's cute."

Ava rolled her eyes.

“Unless you're playing poker because that could be deadly for your game." Sara continued.

"Well, I don't know how to play poker."

"What? Didn't you go to college?"

Ava shrugged. “Yes but I had more important things to do." 

"So what? I had important things as well and it didn't stop me from having fun." She lifted her chin, giving Ava a smug smile. 

Which Ava found cute and then really annoying. 

_Ughhh_ , her shoulders sagged, _that couldn't be good_.

When her mother said that Nate would bring a new girlfriend to spend the new year with them, Ava thought that perhaps it would be an opportunity to be closer to him but she never expected was that the girlfriend would be Sara Lance. 

She was surprised to see them together at dinner and ended up saying Sara's name before Nate introduced them. Ava decided to tell the truth, well, at least the short version. Of course, the woman didn't remember what happened at Nate's party, which made Ava feel relieved and if she was honest with herself, upset.

Thinking about that, maybe it was a good idea to keep a safe distance from Sara, she was Nate’s girlfriend and, for a good reason, she didn't remember anything about Ava, so probably this was a message from the universe that Ava should let it go and pretend that it never happened. 

The other woman cleared her throat trying to get Ava’s attention, “Are you there?”

“Huh? Yeah, sorry. You were saying...” Ava rubbed her temples. 

“I was asking what you did, in college, to have fun..” 

Ava noticed that Sara was trying to have a conversation with her, the reason was still uncertain, maybe it was because of Nate or she was just curious about what had happened at that stupid party. _It doesn’t matter anyway._

“It doesn't matter." Ava interrupted her "You don't need to do this." 

"Do what?" 

"I understand what you're trying to do and there's no need, Sara." A small smile appeared on Ava's face. She tried to show a friendly side. 

Sara clenched her jaw, crossing her arms defensively, “Understand what?”

“Huh… You’re scared.” Ava watched Sara with surprise “You have been friendly because you’re afraid of my family.’’

“Afraid? where did that come from?”

“Well, you were lovely throughout dinner, despite the little trick of embarrassing me at first. You were invested in listening to my mother's stories and now this conversation that we are having now.”

“What’s wrong with us talking?” Sara's expression still closed up. 

“Nothing... It’s just.” Ava hesitated “ I don’t know. It feels weird? You were different from when we meet.”

Sara sighed.

“Oh.. Nate’s birthday.. last year.” Ava nodded “Look, Ava, I'm sorry but that party is a blur in my mind.I have only a few memories of that.” 

“It’s okay.” Ava interrupted her, doing the best she could to hide any emotion she was feeling, “It’s in the past. There’s nothing to worry about, nothing that compromised you. I’m sure my parents already like you and what really matters is Nate and that you two are in love, so it’s alright.” 

Ava leaned on the table to put her hand over Sara’s. 

“No! I’m not worried about...” 

“Hey, sweetie.” Nate entered the kitchen before Sara finished her sentence. “I’ve missed you in our room.”

Ava let go of Sara’s hand before Nate could notice and hid it under the table as she grinned at him.

“Hey. I couldn’t sleep so I came here to drink some water and found your sister. We were chatting.” Sara blurted. 

“I see.” Nate turned to drink water. “Hey sis, working after midnight, aren’t you afraid of becoming a pumpkin?” 

“Yeah… Hmm... Actually I’m going to sleep.” Ava gathered the papers on the table and took another moment to look at Sara. “Good night, guys.” 

"Good night," Sara replied. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any observations? 
> 
> So yep, Sara and Ava met each other before. What can I do, I'm a big fan of romantic clichés hahaha.  
> I'm also a big fan of flashbacks ;)


	3. Dude, do you have a crush on my sister?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of what happened at Nate's birthday party and a very embarrassing morning for Ava.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys, 
> 
> I know I take so long to update this work and I'm so sorry for this. I hope this chapter makes it up to you guys. 
> 
> I'm sorry for any mistakes, as I said before, English is not my first language. 
> 
> Thanks, Gabs for always helping me. 
> 
> Have fun :)

_Ava walked down the hall, the light and music pumping through her brain. The party was different from what she expected when she sent a text to Nate saying she was coming. It was something that looked like college, but it wasn't._

_She looked for someone she knew, wishing Nora and Ray would be there. Apart from them, Ava didn't know any of her brother's friends. She glanced at the living room and there was a dance floor in the center with a few people dancing._

_A drink would be great._

_Ava glanced around the room once and, with her hands in her pockets, made her way to the drink table. After having enough alcohol in her system, she would look for Nate._

_Over the night she did find Nora and Ray but it was just for a moment before they went back home because Henry’s nanny, Susy, needed to be home before midnight. She was happy that they built a beautiful family together. Ava smiled with that thought._

_At some point, she found her brother too but they didn’t have a proper conversation since Nate was busy with his friends and she didn’t want to turn things weirder than already was by prolonging their conversation. So she just gave him a hug with a promise to schedule lunch together someday during the week._

_Ava thought if it would be better to stay there for a while or go home. She already had a few glasses of wine and a shot of tequila with Nate (He was drinking a shot with each one of his guests)._

_Well, the truth was she didn't want to go home yet, her place has been too quiet since Carly left and Ava was tired of that empty feeling._

_She glanced towards the living room and decided to have another glass of wine before calling it a night. The wine on the drink table was gone so she went to the kitchen to search for another bottle._

_"Hey! Did you-” a woman walked towards her and started to talk casually, then exchanged her expression to concern “-OMG! Please, ma’am, you need to sit down.”_

_“I’m sorry, what?”_

_“Please I need you to sit. It’s very important. Now tell me your name .”_

_Ava did what the other woman said and sat on a chair at the coffee table, but the unexpected way she was talking with Ava was irritating._

_“Could you stop? You’re starting to annoy me.”_

_“Sh, sh, sh. Maybe we will need to take you to the emergency, to check if you have any internal bleeding, a concussion probably caused by your fall” the woman held Ava's jaw like she was trying to identify something._

_“Concussion? What hell are you talking about?”_

_“You had a terrible fall.”_

_“What? No, I hadn’t.” Ava shook her head in disbelief as she took Sara's hands off her face._

_“Really?" the woman's concerned expression turned into a smirk as she finished her sentence, "Because I can swear you fell straight out of heaven, angel.”_

_“I’m sorry, what?” Ava’s heart was beating so fast, it was difficult for her brain to understand what had just happened._

_“Hi.” The woman continued to smile at her like that was a completely normal way to flirt with someone. “I’m sorry about this, but I lost a bet.”_

_“A bet?”_

_“Yep… To use a cheesy pickup line, chosen by them, with the first person I saw in this room.”_

_“ A bet… By what?” Ava tilted her head, still confused._

_“It doesn’t matter… I guess it was destiny anyway because you really look like an angel, ” The woman smiled “ My name is Sara, by the way, Sara Lance.”_

_Ava looked at Sara in disbelief, her head was still processing what had just happened in the kitchen. A woman hadn't hit her with such a stupid pickup line since college._

_“Wow,” Ava said, with a mockery tone. “you’re lucky to be pretty because this move is really bad.”_

_“So you think I’m pretty?”_

_“Hmm. What?” She scrunched her nose. “No… That’s not the point.”_

_Sara raised an eyebrow and nodded, “Riiight. And your name is?”_

_Ava straightened her spine in the chair and held up her hand at Sara, “Ava.”_

_“Nice to me meet you, Ava.” She shook Ava’s hand._

* * *

She woke up early that morning to run on the beach. It _would be good to_ organize her thoughts and plan how she’s going to act around her family today. The unexpected events from last night are still playing on her mind, bringing back memories from the past year, when she met Sara at that party. She shook her head and tried to focus on the running. 

As she returned to the house, Ava already had everything figured out in her head. She would avoid talking to Sara alone and about how they met before. Eventually, that weird feeling she had about her brother's girlfriend would disappear. It wasn't as if they were close if it wasn't a family event or holiday, they rarely see each other. She stopped for a moment, suddenly thinking about how Nate and she never developed a good friendship and how they were strangers to each other. That thought made her feel worse about whatever she’s feeling for Sara. 

She walked towards the kitchen. Nodding with the beat of the music on her earpods she opened the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water, not paying too much attention to the people at the kitchen table having breakfast.

"Ava, dear. I didn't see you waking up," Dorothy’s words caught her off guard and Ava slightly choked on the water she was drinking. 

“Oh, jeez! Mother!” Ava wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and turned to the coffee table, where she found her mother, Nate, and Sara looking at her. 

_That… can not be good!_

Ava approached the table as she pulled her earbuds out, "Good morning, guys. Sorry about that. "

“Oh, don’t you worry. We found your little dance really cute.” Sara replied, with a smile. Actually, she was smiling in an amused sort of way that Ava couldn’t decide if she was making fun of her or something else.

She narrowed her eyes and sat next to Dorothy. 

“Morning, sister,” Nate put his arm over Sara’s shoulder. Ava watched them with a suspicious look. She didn’t understand why Nate was being so possessive with Sara when he never had this behavior with other girlfriends. 

_“Oh, Sweet Jesus! He knows about what happened,”_ Ava's eyes widened at the thought. 

“Is everything alright?” Sara asked, studying her.

“Yeah, sorry. Just remind me of something I have to do later, thank you.” Ava lied, pouring to herself a cup of coffee “Morning, Nate,” She nodded, “Sara.”

Sara was still looking at her, with that gaze of curiosity, which made Ava a little nervous. _What was that supposed to mean?_ She frowned, appraisingly, wondering if Sara had remembered about what happened between them and, honestly, praying to God that she didn’t. 

Ava didn’t need that kind of information to make things weirder between her and Nate if Sara is going to be her sister in law. She exhaled with that thought. 

“Ava, dear.”

“Hmm. Yes, mother?” She turned to look at Dorothy, smiling.

“As I was saying, to your brother and Sara before you arrived. I'm going to your aunt Susan’s hairdresser, with her and Mallory. Mallory wants a new haircut.” Ava narrowed her eyes to the older woman, “It’s an emergency, apparently. Do you want to come?”

Ava scoffed, “Of course it’s an emergency. Everything that involves Mallory is an emergency.”

“I think your answer is no then?” Dorothy replied. 

Ava frowned sarcastically.

“Who’s Mallory?” Sara asked.

“Our cousin,” Nate answered, chewing a piece of pancake, he nodded to Ava, “Fun fact: My little sister used to have a massive crush on her when we were teenagers.”

Sara let it out a slight laugh and Ava's attention diverted back to her. In the meantime, Dorothy turned at Ava with surprise searching for an explanation _. Great._

“Ava, sweetheart. Is that true?”

“Oh, come on,” Ava chuckled, feeling her cheeks growing hot. 

“IT’S TRUE,” Nate mocked.

“You better shut your mouth,” Ava replied, giving Nate a warning glare, “Don’t worry, mother. Nothing really happened.” 

“Yeah, I don't know about that. You two had a very guilty look at that time we went camping with her parents.”

“Nathaniel, please shut up!” Ava glanced at Sara and she was looking at her which made her feel more exposed. Ava was starting to feel overwhelmed, at the beginning of the day, she had decided to keep her personal life away from their family conversations and now she just became the subject.

“Oh, Jesus,” Dorothy looked at her with concern, “Did Susan know about that? Oh my God, Ava, you two are cousins.”

Ava huffed ignoring her mother’s question and shot Nate a glare, _“Thank you for this.”_

“Oh please, y’all are overreacting. It's just a story about our teenage years and why are you nervous about this anyway?” Nate said.

“Aunt Susan didn’t know about it, because it was nothing!” Ava sighed, hard, and turned towards Dorothy, “Mother, please don't talk about it with them, okay?” 

“I’ll try,” Dorothy shot her an apologetical glare, “But I can not pretend I didn’t know about it. Tell me, how can I look at Malory and pretend I didn’t know that you and her...hmmm” Dorothy scratched the back of her neck, thinking about what she would say, “... You know.”

“Oh, lord.” Ava groaned, “See? This is why I don’t talk about my personal life with you guys.” 

Ava glanced at Sara from across the table, the woman was smiling as she observed their talking. 

Ava cleared her throat pointedly.

“I’m sorry for you to see that, Sara,” Ava clenched her jaw, “My family has problems to understand what boundaries mean.” 

"Uhm, everything is fine. I have to deal with the same things with my family,” Sara chuckled, “Well, not exactly the same. I usually have this rule of not bringing any subject about my personal life to my family, so they don’t have anything substantial to embarrass me in the future.” 

Ava squinted at her, “So Nate doesn’t know your parents?”

“ _Nathaniel, did I ever embarrass you?_ ” Dorothy required, ignoring Ava's question. 

“I’m sure you don’t, Dorothy!” Sara replied, with a lovely tone, before Nate had a chance to even think about what to answer. Because if there was an ability that Dorothy had, it should be this one: embarrassing her kids in front of their girlfriends or even friends (if you were a lesbian teenager bringing a friend who is also a girl to a sleepover).

“Yeah, you’re right, babe. Mom was amazing,” Nate leaned over the table to hold Dorothy’s hand.

Ava grunted with scorn, “ _Yeah, right._ ”

They all turned to look at her. Sara had that cute smile which had annoyed her so much last night dinner. Ava didn’t understand yet why she was trying so hard to make them like her. She didn't seem to be the kind of person who cares about what people think. 

“Is everything really alright, sis?” Nate asked, noticing the way she was looking at them.

“Hmmm… Yes,” Ava leaned on her chair, forcing a smile, “Just thinking about how cute a couple you two are,” She looked at Sara over the rim of her cup of coffee as she sipped from it.

She felt the woman’s gaze faltered and settled at another point, behind her and, regretting her comment, Ava attempted to avoid looking at Sara's eyes again and turned to her mother to speak, "I've changed my mind, I’m going with you." 

***

“I’m not sure if exposing your sister like that was a good idea,” Sara said. 

“Nah... It was harmless. She overreacted and mom doesn’t really care, she was just… Fascinated because she didn't notice back then and believe me she spent a lot of time trying to figure out if Ava was dating every girl she brought to our house when she was a teen.”

“Your family really is something, huh.”

“Told you,” Nate scratched his forehead and smiled with tiredness as they kept walking. He gave back the scotch bottle to Sara and she drank a sip.

Over the afternoon they went out to the beach. Nate brought with him one of his father's best bottles of whiskey and they were sharing, trying to beat the cold wind that touched their skin. 

“Well, they aren’t that bad you know, I mean…” Sara sat on a bench in front of the beach and waited for Nate to join her, “... We barely saw your father,” Nate scoffed at what she had said, “But I guess this is how the things are, right buddy?” 

“Yeah… It has always been like that. Did you see how he treated Ava, at dinner? As if she were one of his employees,” Nate shook his head with discontentment, “Yeah, I know she works with him but we were at dinner so why keep acting like they were still in the office?

“I’m sorry for this,” Sara patted him on the shoulder, not knowing what to say to make things better for her friend, “You should try....” she paused, choosing her words, “Hmmm, I don't know, be closer to your sister, be more present in her life.” 

Nate rolled his eyes, “Where did that come from doctor Phil?”

“I am being serious, Nate. If someone would know how you feel, it’s her,” Sara turned her head to give him a tender look, “I mean when I’m struggling with something Laurel is always there for me… To be honest, I don’t know how to face anything without knowing she is there. I wish you could have this, you know? and your sister is right there man.”

Sara smiled in acknowledgment. The last day of the year finally making a way to her emotions. She felt gratitude for her sister's life and was happy to have a good relationship with her.

Nate started to laugh and Sara followed him, “What is so funny loser?”

“You... Having a crush on my sister!” 

“is that what you understood from everything I said?” Sara replied, nodding her head. 

“It was implied!! Come on!” He kept laughing at her. 

“You’re making assumptions here,” Sara got up from the bench and started walking faster back to the house. “I can not believe how dumb you are.” 

“Look, look, look,” Sara relented and turned, with annoyance, as Nate hurried up to her. “I give you my blessing,” Nate continued. 

Sara snorted and started walking again. Nate was a step behind her, the bootle remaining on his hands, “Come on, cap! I was just trying to improve the mood of the conversation.” 

They made their way back home without saying anything that serious, just sharing what was left of the whiskey bottle.

***

Sara closed the door after Nate entered the hallway, “Forget it, man. you're not going to be my wingman in this. Not to mention that you suck at this.” 

“I’m just going to talk to Ava about you... When the time comes,” Nate walked through the living room and turned to face Sara, “Not now, because we are dating. It would be weird.” 

“... What would be weird?” Ava asked as she went down the stairs.

“Hey, Ava!! Nothing,” Nate quickly answered, “Sara and I were just talking about one of our friends, Behrad. Did you know him? Zari’s brother…” 

“Yeah… He moved into my apartment now that Zari is traveling with Charlie.” Sara completed.

"Yeah, I met him before," Ava replied, squinting at them. 

"Anyway... How was your day?" Nate asked.

"Horrible thanks to you," Ava sat at the couch and started to type something on her phone, "Fortunately I won't be here at night to get involved in any dramatic scene."

Sara raised her head from the magazine she was looking at to glance at Ava. 

"Come on, you're taking this too serious," Nate replied, with a worried look. 

“Mom embarrassed me today at the hairdresser. I don’t want to repeat the moment. Besides, I already decided." Ava sighed, glaring at him, "I should know that coming back home after a breakup wouldn't be a good idea." 

Sara and Nate exchanged looks and Sara nodded, encouraging him to talk.

"Listen, Ava. I wanted to apologize for my behavior at breakfast and dinner last night. " 

Ava frowned, "Why?"

"I don't know, I was insufferable and…" Nate glanced again at Sara, searching for approval of what he was saying, "brought back stories about you that didn't involve me." 

"Umm… That's alright, I guess." Ava leaned against the couch, crossing her arms, "It's like you said before… Is not that serious anyway."

“It’s just this breakup thing that made everything worse, but it’s okay. Don’t worry.” Ava stretched her back.

Sara noticed Ava's walls rising as she narrowed her eyes to what Nate had said. Maybe it wouldn't be easy for Nate to talk with his sister as they thought. 

"I'll let you two alone, to talk," Sara stood up to walk to her room. 

"Oh, it won't be necessary," Ava stood up as well, interrupting Sara, "My uber just arrived and I have a friend waiting for me, sorry." 

Sara felt frustrated as she watched Ava walk towards the hall. They had made everything worse. She hoped to spend some time with Ava during the party tonight and, perhaps, with people distracted by the New Year's Eve and the celebration, it would be easier to bring up the subject about the day they met. 

"It's just me or that was weird?" 

"I don't know, she's your sister dude," Sara frowned. 

"She's probably annoyed by my mom," Nate simply answered, shrugging. "She can be too much when it comes to our love life."

" _Oh, really?"_

***

“Dude, I’m so tired,” Nate yawned and swallowed another sip of his wine, “the food was really good, wasn’t it?” 

Sara gave him a nod and an amusement look, glad that their trip was coming to an end. She missed the city and the turmoil of the days working at the hospital. _Yeah, it’s gonna be fun to be back_. No more acting nicely around people, making them like her. 

There hadn't been a moment in the last two days when Sara was left alone. She always had Nate around her or even Dorothy, asking for details about her life that she wasn't sure how to answer. 

Unfortunately, with people around her all the time she didn't have the opportunity to talk to Ava, and the times she tried to talk with her, the woman looked like a deer in the headlights and walked away with some excuse. 

There were also the moments that she caught Ava looking at her with a curious look, or acted super distant. Anyway, Sara was dying to know what's going on, if she did something really bad. 

The reason, though, she was so interested in knowing about what happened between them was still a mystery to her. 

She should just let it go. 

It wouldn't be a good idea to get involved with Nate's sister. She had this rule of not having any affairs with people close to her friends or family. What if things between them didn't work through and it got weird on any occasion they had to be in the same room? 

***

Sara stared at the ceiling, lying on the bed with her arm resting over her forehead.

She took a deep breath. 

Thank God this was the last day she shared a bed with Nate, she missed her apartment and the feeling of loneliness she was used to. 

Giving up the attempt of getting some sleep she left the bed and walked towards the bedroom's balcony. Maybe spending some time watching the moonlight would help her sleep soon. She was tired of staring at the ceiling anyway. 

Sara bent over to place her elbows on the balcony pillars. She took a deep breath and felt the cold breeze that was coming from the beach touch her skin. 

As her eyes flickered through the beach she spotted someone awkwardly sitting on the sand. Sara frowned. It was a woman. 

_It was Ava._

Sara's eyes widened and her jaw dropped in surprise. The woman had a bottle in her left hand and drank straight from it. 

_That's an interesting end for this boring night_ , she thought, as she put on a jacket and walked out of the bedroom. 

"So, you decided to watch the first day of the year rising in the sky, huh?" 

Ava jumped in her seat, scared, and looked up to find Sara standing beside her. " _Fuck_."

Sara smiled and sat beside her, resting her hands on her legs. "Sorry. Didn't want to scare you." 

She snuck surreptitious glances at Ava out of the corner of her eyes, the woman had an amused look on her face probably caused by the excess of alcohol. 

"How was New Year's Eve with the Heywood's?" 

Sara chuckled. 

"Very interesting, quite boring, though," Ava scoffed at Sara's answer, which made Sara smile. "What about yours?" 

Ava scrunched her nose, which, Sara noticed, she always does when she's annoyed by something. 

_It was really cute._

"It was fine, I guess," She replied, playing with the sand that covered her feet. "But I’ve had better nights than this one." 

Sara nodded. She didn't know what to say from there. It was clear that something was bothering Ava but she didn't want to push.

"So… hmm, Malory, huh?" 

"What about her?"

Sara shrugged. "Nothing, I was just wondering if she was the reason you didn't come to the party…" she trailed off. Her eyes fixed on the sand under her feet, unable to face the woman. "Or if it was because of me, I didn't want to disturb you with…"

"What? No," Ava cut her off this time. "That's nothing involving you… or her… It was me, actually." 

Sara opened her mouth to answer but closed again, not knowing what to say. She just nodded, waiting for Ava to tell more. 

"I should have expected that coming home after a breakup would lead to this and, I don't know, with Nate in a relationship and mom talking about this all the time… it hit a nerve or something. I don't know." 

"I see…" Sara simply agreed, her eyes scanning Ava’s side profile. "I'm sorry if…" 

"No! No, no, no," Ava rested a hand on Sara's leg, stopping her again. "That's on me. You guys have nothing to do with it. I'm really happy for you and Nate." 

Sara wrinkled her nose at what Ava said. She wanted so bad to tell the truth. How this is all pretending, that she and Nate are nothing but friends, that she spent the whole night at this boring party glancing towards the door and waiting for her to enter. 

"You really don't remember the night we met, huh?" Ava's question woke her up. 

"What?" She looked oblivious but then let it out a soft “Oh”. 

Ava pressed her lips and nodded, a flush stung into her cheeks

"That night is a blur, sorry…" She apologized, pressing a hand on the back of her neck.

"Your face is familiar, though…" Ava lifted her head and met Sara’s gaze. " I mean, there's no way I would forget such a beautiful face." 

“Always a flirty, right Miss Lance?" 

Her smirk turned into a chuckle, then she took a deep breath and returned to look at the ocean. Trying to find the right words to say and obviously failing.

"Look, I'm sorry if I made something stupid," Ava quirked her brow at her. "...You know, at Nate's party… I don't wanna be a jerk, not remembering you… huh, this is hard." Ava kept her brow lifted as she watched Sara's rambling. 

She chuckled, slightly shaking her head and drinking another sip from the bottle. 

"What? Why are you laughing?" 

"Nothing," Ava replied. “You’re cute when you’re nervous.”

“Oh,” a shy smile flickered on her lips. “Cool.”

Silence fell between them. They were both looking at the ocean, avoiding each other’s eyes. Sara found it really relaxing, being at the other woman's company, not having to pretend anything or being polite all the time. Just watching the waves coming and going. 

"They should respect you, though," Sara said and Ava turned to look at her. "It's not their place to ask about what happened. This is nobody's business." 

She watched the woman sigh deeply and nod. She had a distant look on her face as if she was trying to process what to say. Which could be hard considering how much she has been drinking. 

"I should apply this statement to my life more often," Ava said quietly.

"Hey," Sara noticed Ava starting to overthink, she used her hand to run over Ava's back and stopped on the right shoulder, applying some pressure there, "don't be so hard on yourself." 

She felt Ava's spine stiffened under her touch and widened her eyes to where her hand was resting now. 

She moved her hand away from Ava, biting her lips to stop herself from saying anything stupid. 

"I mean…" She trailed off. 

"It's okay, Sara," Ava assured, calming the girl beside her by placing a hand on her leg. "I'm fine." 

She took another sip from the bottle and handed it to Sara, "Do you want it?" 

Sara considered. She should return to her bedroom and have some sleep. 

However, she was curious to see where that could lead. 

"Yeah, thanks," She took the bottle and drank, letting the alcohol burn her throat.

They stayed in silence, too afraid of saying anything that could break the moment they were sharing. Sara felt tiredness take over her body and her mind started drifting to how good could be to just lay down right there. 

She opened her eyes to look at the sun blooming on the horizon, stretching over the blue and filling the sky with shades of orange and pink. Taking a deep breath, Sara turned to watch Ava rubbing her eyes sleepily. The woman was probably tired too. 

The holiday was coming to an end and she didn't want to say goodbye to Ava. Maybe they both could just lay down on the sand and cuddle. She laughed at that thought. 

_Cuddling until someone knows the right thing to say._

“What?” Ava yawned. Sara thought that maybe Ava didn't want to say goodbye too. 

“Nothing,” She grinned. “I was thinking of how inviting the sand looks.” 

"Oh," Ava furrowed her brows, looking as if she just had realized something. "You shouldn't be here."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, Sara. If I made you feel worried about me here," Ava replied disconcertedly, looking distant. 

"Ava, calm down, I'm not following," She reached out and took her firmly by the hand.

"You saw me coming to the beach and was worried because I was drinking," Sara furrowed her brows at Ava's statement. That's not exactly why she came to the beach. 

She was worried, of course, but she was curious. She felt a need to be in Ava's presence that she didn't think it was late or anything else…

She wanted to make sure Ava understands that.

"No, wait," Sara let it go off Ava's hand to cup her cheek. "I'm exactly where I want to be." 

Ava lifted her gaze and met Sara's eyes. She closed her eyes to the feeling of Sara stroking the thumb over her cheek. 

Sara didn't know what to say now. The moment was just too perfect to ruin it by saying something stupid. The sun was rising in the sky, the cold breeze making their skin shriver. 

They were now so close that Sara could see a quiver on the corner of Ava's mouth, challenging her to close the distance between them. 

Ava looked at Sara's lips as if she had just read her mind. _Maybe she wants this as much as I do,_ Sara thought. 

She ran her tongue over her upper lip and leaned in, carefully, as if she was asking for permission or giving time if Ava wanted to push her away. 

But she didn't push Sara away. In fact, she closed her eyes, took a soft, bated breath and slightly opened her mouth. 

All the doubts Sara had ended up right there. It didn't exist anymore or, at least, she couldn't think of any plausible reason that kissing Ava was a bad idea. 

So, the next thing she saw herself doing was letting go off Ava's cheek and grabbing her neck to pull her closer. 

Sara ran her thumb over the smooth skin of Ava's neck and, closing her eyes, she pressed their lips together softly. 

Ava meanwhile had brought her hands to cup Sara’s face, she tilted her head to deepen their kiss. Sara took the opportunity and sucked Ava’s lower lip between hers. The touch felt like heaven, and Ava’s soft moan made her body feel so weak. 

As cliché as it could be, Sara didn't remember the last time she had felt so many things in such a short time. She didn’t want that moment coming to an end. The only thing she wanted to do was kiss Ava Sharpe until the need for air burned her lungs. 

Ava breathed out hesitantly as she pulled back and rested her forehead against Sara’s. 

She let go off Sara and buried her face in her hands. _Oh no!_

_“We shouldn't have done this,”_ A sad, apologetic smile flashed over Ava’s face as she moved back and got up to leave. “I’m sorry, Sara.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? Thoughts? 
> 
> Again, I'm sorry for the really long wait. I was working on my other fic and lost the inspiration to continue this one. But I'm not gonna let this unfinished, believe me. 
> 
> I was so happy to see people still letting kudos and comments on this story, it really made my day. Thank you! 
> 
> And don't worry I'll finish both stories, this one and "in another life..." I love these characters so much, I can not live without them. Anyway, I hope the reading has been a good distraction in such difficult times.
> 
> I have been super busy with Uni and this has affected my writing time a lot, but don't worry new chapters will come eventually. 
> 
> Stay safe and be good :)


	4. Tell me what would make you happy, baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The consequences of kissing your brother's girlfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys 
> 
> How are you feeling today? Hope y'all have fun reading this chapter. :) 
> 
> Thanks, Gabs for help me editing.

"Sara?"

"Ughhh," She groaned, irritated. 

"Are you sleeping?" Nate insisted, arching a brow. 

She groaned again and rolled over on the bed, covering her head with Nate's pillow. "Yes!"

After Ava left the beach, Sara went back to the bedroom she shared with Nate, changed her clothes and tried to have some sleep. She thought about knocking on Ava's door and making her listen to what Sara had to say. But that wasn't a good idea, considering the level of disappointment Ava showed when she left. 

"Ughhh, I'm so stupid," She whispered more to herself, turning to lay on her back and bringing a hand to cover her eyes. 

Nate squinted his eyes, " _ Okaaay _ ." 

Sara leaned on her elbows and looked at him. "What do you want, anyway?"

"Well, first of all, it's 10 am," he said gesturing to his watch. "Second of all, where is this sand on the floor from?" 

Sara's answer was another groan. She lay down again, bringing the blanket to cover her face. 

"I'm literally the stupidest person who walked on Earth," She whined. 

Nate grimaced a little and sat down on the edge of Sara's side of the bed. "Oh, don't be so hard on yourself, cap! I think you're doing pretty good." 

He gave a slight squeeze on her feet over the blanket, in an attempt to comfort her.

Sara bolted into a sitting position, just to regret a second later when she felt nausea starting to increase on her stomach. She covered her face with both hands.

"I kissed your sister last night," she mumbled. 

"YOU DID WHAT?" Nate stood up in a hurry. 

Sara groaned, laying down on the bed again. "I hate myself." 

"Did she kiss you back?" Nate asked. 

"Yes, in fact, she did," now Sara replied with a little more pride, a slight hint of smugness appearing on the corner of her mouth. 

Nate raised a hand to cover his mouth and closed his eyes. "Sara, what was the only thing I have asked you not to do?" 

"I'm sorry, but… It just happened," She apologized, sitting again. 

"How?" 

"I don't know, she was there. I was there, we were attracted to each other. It's really hard, you know." 

"Oh, man," He started to pace in the room. "How can we have breakfast with my parents and her, and act like everything is okay? What if she brings the subject?" 

Sara groaned, "Ughh, she probably thinks I'm a whore." 

Nate ignored her and kept rambling about all the possibilities. 

"You know what, I don't think she's gonna talk about anything. If I know my sister, she's probably struggling in guilt too ashamed to say anything." 

"What?" Sara grimaced. "You're a horrible person. I hope you understand that." 

"What? You're the one who cheated on your boyfriend with his sister." Nate mocked. 

"I'm not really dating you!" Sara whispered, in an edgy tone.

"Say it louder, cap, I think my mother didn't hear yet!" 

"Alright, okay," Sara left the bed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm gonna call Laurel to come to pick me up. You go have breakfast with your family and say that I had to go back to the city, because, I don't know… An emergency in the hospital." 

"Oh, come on, Sara…" He retreated. "There's no need for that. I'm sure she's not gonna talk about what happened." 

"No, dude… You don't understand," She started to walk around the room, gathering her things. "I don't want to make your sister feel uncomfortable around me. She doesn't deserve this." 

Sara took her towel and headed to the bathroom. 

"Wait, Sara…" Nate called her. Sara turned to look at him, her jaw clenching hard. "Do you really have feelings for Ava?"

Sara thought about it, her shoulders slumping. That's a dangerous question. Until that night before, she only had admitted she was curious about Ava. However her feelings were growing so fast, she didn't know what to say. 

"I don't know, man," she breathed deeply. "Maybe…" 

The second part came as a whisper. So soft that Nate was barely capable of understanding. He just nodded at her, a small, slow smile appeared on his mouth. 

"I'm sorry, Sara…" he said. "I'm gonna…" 

"It's okay, dude," She opened the door. "I just need to leave."

***

It had been five days since what Ava would call  _ the disastrous morning _ . After kissing Sara, she locked herself in her bedroom and rehearsed countless times how she would behave during breakfast. Luckily for her, soon, after the meal, Nate and Sara would leave and then she would too. They would return to their routine and everything would be back to normal. She will only see her brother again in another family event and until there she will have forgotten who Sara Lance is.

And how soft her skin felt under her fingers. And how good her lips tasted when they kissed. And how bad she wanted to keep kissing her and doing so much more. 

_ Damn it!  _ She yelled to herself internally. Leaning against her office chair, Ava lifted her hand to rest over her eyes. She breathed deeply and her mind went straight to Sara's image. Her smile. The dimple that forms in the corner of her mouth when her smile was too big. 

She sighed heavily. That's not the kind of thoughts you should have about your brother's girlfriend. She was so embarrassed and when the breakfast came and Nate announced that Sara had to leave for an emergency, she knew it was her fault and felt much worse. She couldn't raise her head to look at Nate. 

He tried to speak with her a couple of times which she absolutely ignored, saying she was super busy with work. She wanted to apologize to Sara though. She never wanted to disturb her relationship with Nate or make Sara feel so bad that she felt the need to leave in the morning like she was the wrong one there. 

Maybe she should send a text, apologizing for her behavior. However, she was super, super afraid of being in touch with Sara again.

"Hey, kiddo." 

Ava jumped in her seat, her mind too far away to notice Nate knocking on her doorstep. 

"Sorry," he apologized, entering her office. "I knocked but you didn't answer." 

"That's okay, Nathaniel," she forced a smile. "There's anything I could do for you? Are you here to see Dad? I'm afraid it's too late, he's probably already at home." 

"No, no, there's nothing to do with him," He held up a hand pointing at her. "I'm actually here to talk with you." 

" _ Oh _ ," a whisper split out of her mouth. She straightened her posture and rested her elbows over her desk and pointed at the chair for him to sit. "What can I do for you?" 

"Oh, please Ava," he sat and slightly leaned over the desk. "Stop being so stoic! I know what happened between you and Sara." 

_ Oh shit! Jesus fucking Christ! _ That's the moment she will leave this Earth for sure. Ava felt her blood being drained off her body and she lost the sense of reality for probably a whole minute. 

" _ What?! No! What??"  _ She repeated, giving an embarrassing smile that it turned into a nervous laugh. 

_ Please get it together, woman!  _

"I'm not sure of what you are talking about, Nate, I'm sorry," she said, a little more firmly. 

"Oh, please, baby girl. It's all over your face," he mocked. "I don't know how mom and dad didn't notice how weird you acted that morning after the new year’s party." 

She huffed, "To be honest, mom is too focused on your personal life to pay attention to anything else and dad, well… you know how he is."

He laughed and she smiled at him. Both knowing very well how their parents were. 

"I was worried about you…" he started. 

"Please don't be… I'm okay. I don't know how much Sara has told you but I promise…" 

"Ava, please," He cut her off. "It was all just pretending." 

She furrowed her brows, "what?" 

Nate sighed deeply and raised his gaze to face her. 

"Sara isn't my girlfriend," he said, slightly embarrassed for the big lie. "She's one of my best friends. I lied to mom that I had a girlfriend a couple of days before the holidays and.." 

"You did what?" She interrupted him, in shock.

"I lied to our mom about being in a relationship." 

"Oh my God," her mouth fell open. "Why would you make such a stupid thing?" 

"I don't know," he complained. " I was so tired of her always asking me that. I told her I was seeing someone and when she asked me who the person was I panicked and said it was Sara." 

"Wow," she was still in shock, but deep down she kinda understood Nate. Because, well, he was dumb and their mother could be a real pain in the ass when it comes to their love life. 

"That's one of the stupidest decisions you ever made. Including that time you decided to dye your hair blond." 

"Hey, people loved the results okay." 

"No, they didn't," her face twisted on a mocking expression. "They only said that because you always cared too much about what people think." 

He grimaced at her, which made her laugh and improved the environment a little. 

"Well, now that everything is clarified," he said. 'Now, please call Sara because she's giving me death threats.” 

The last part he said with a complaining tone.  _ Such a baby.  _ But why did Sara want her to know the truth?

"Why does she want me to know the truth?" 

"Because she wants to kiss you more," Nate mimicked as if he was kissing someone, pouting in a very mocking way if someone asked Ava. 

She felt her cheeks becoming red and threw him a pen that was forgotten on her desk.

" _ Hey, _ " he dodged to the side. "here I am saving your love life and you tried to hurt my beautiful face." 

Ava let out a laugh of scorn, ignoring what he said about her love life. "Beautiful face? Don't you have any mirrors at your house?" 

"Ouch," He placed a hand on his chest, in a fake hurtful expression. "This is what I get in return?" 

"It's what you deserve after playing with our family."

"Right, right… So are you gonna call to Sara?" 

She cleared her throat, "Umm, I don't know." 

"Look, don't waste another time…" He leaned over the table and started to write something in a post-it. "Here's her address and her phone. Don't be a jerk." 

He stood up to leave. "You know… it would be cool if we spend some time together. As brother and sister. I really miss you." 

Ava was still in shock, staring at the little blue paper on her desk. She raised her head to look at Nate. 

"Yeah… that would be great." 

She smiled genuinely and, in a totally unexpected move, she stood up and paced to hug him. 

" _ Thank you." _

* * *

_ "Oh my God, being a doctor makes that pick up line even worse, I hope you understand that," Ava said, despite the accusatory tone she was using the smile on her face attenuate the situation.  _

_ "Oh, come on, it was inoffensive," Sara replied, she drank another sip of her wine and smiled back.  _

_ "No way, this is serious, you can't say on people's face that they're in a serious medical condition when they don't."  _

_ "I agree," she raised her hand to touch Ava's forearm. The action didn't go unnoticed by the other woman. "But, consider, I was challenged by my friends."  _

_ Ava snorted, rolling her eyes. Her eyes flickered around the kitchen, trying to find another spot to look at it and avoid Sara's lopsided smile.  _

_ They had moved from the table to the counter near the sink, because it was more peaceful to talk, according to Sara.  _

_ Sara, who was in front of her. Supporting herself with her right hand on the counter where Ava was leaning.  _

_ Ava tried not to think of how close their bodies were and in the occasional times that Sara was biting her lower lips looking at her. Yeah, she was a good player and that night Ava was more than interested in knowing where that could lead.  _

_ The atmosphere was heavy, she didn't know if it was just her or the smoke coming from the other room, where a group of people was smoking. _

_ It was difficult to breathe normally and the looks Sara was giving her didn't make the situation any better.  _

_ "Challenged, right… the excuses kids give these days, huh?"  _

_ "So... what else do you do?" Sara took a moment to check on her and Ava felt her cheeks growing hot. "Despite being, you know, an angel."  _

_ Ava laughed, surprised with how cheesy Sara was being and contradicting all of her beliefs she was kind of into it.  _

_ "Unfortunately, don't get paid for just being an angel," she laughed, feeling odd confidence increasing on her. "I'm actually a lawyer."  _

_ "That's cool," Sara smiled, a thoughtful expression showing on her face. _

_ "Ughh," Ava groaned. "It's boring, I know."  _

_ "No, no, no, it's interesting," Sara assured, giving her a soft squeeze on the arm and leaned over her to whisper in her ear, "I was actually thinking how I need someone that could get me off, you know." _

_ Ava choked with her wine and Sara patted on her back, trying to help.  _

_ "Well, I — I'm, hmmm," She mumbled and smiled dorkily when Sara arched a brow. "Ughhh, I'm horrible."  _

_ "Nah, I think you're doing great," Sara smiled and Ava felt a shiver of excitement taking place on the pit of her stomach. _

_ Ava giggled and cleared her throat after, pulling herself together. "So, how did you meet Nate?"  _

_ Sara straightened up her posture, noticing Ava's changing. "Humm, he's one of my best friends, actually. There was this day I helped him win a bar fight. It was pretty intense."  _

_ Ava remembered that. Nate had called her in the middle of the night asking her to bail him out of jail.  _

_ Although she didn't remember Sara's presence there. Ava frowned at that memory.  _

_ "I hope it was nothing too serious," she said, her eyes studying Sara's face.  _

_ Sara presses her lips together firmly, nodding her head. "No, no, it wasn't. Just some random jerk annoying one of our colleagues. But with that fight, we bonded."  _

_ She crossed her arms over her chest, casually, "Nate's an amazing person. He's dumb but he's great."  _

_ Ava smiled and nodded her head, agreeing. _

_ She let her mind travel through the memories she had of her brother. Their childhood, the disputes trying to get their parents approvals, when she confided in him her sexuality and talked about her fears of being rejected. She couldn't help but to feel jealous of his relationship with his friends now and how she can't have this connection with him anymore. _

_ "So," Sara's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "where do you know him from?"  _

_ Well, she didn't know what to say. If she said she's his sister, Sara would connect the dots that she knew about the bar fight episode. That would be awkward and she wasn't in the mood to talk about her distant relationship with him.  _

_ "Humm, we're friends," She smiled casually, drinking a sip of her wine to gain time. "We went to the same University and I took some classes with him. Now I work for his family." _

_ That's not entirely a lie. She did work with their dad.  _

_ "Oh, Heywood's company?" Sara slightly opened her mouth, looking impressed. " You must be a damn good lawyer."  _

_ Sara finished her drink and looked around to find where the bottle was. "Do you want more?"  _

_ Ava gave a look over the kitchen, feeling slightly afraid of Nate suddenly appearing to expose her lies to Sara.  _

_ "Yes, sure," She smiled and handed her glass to Sara.  _

_ "So…" Sara continued, this time she leaned against the counter on Ava's side. " You're a corporate lawyer."  _

_ "Ughh," Ava groaned, scrunching her nose. "Yeah... One of those…"  _

_ "What??" Sara asked, curious. "You don't sound like you liked."  _

_ "Well, I do... I guess, hmm," Ava frowned, thoughtful.  _

_ Sara chuckled, "You don't seem very convinced of that."  _

_ "Well, it pays the bills, so… I think it's alright." She explained, feeling slightly insecure about that subject, which was weird because she always preferred talking about her job, than any other aspect of her life.  _

_ "Humm," Sara nodded. "I think I get it… But you always wanted to be a corporate lawyer?"  _

_ Hmm.. tough question. Why couldn't Sara just go back to her flirty mode?  _

_ "Well, to be honest, there was this moment I really wanted to be an environmental lawyer…" She replied reflexively. "People change I guess.."  _

_ Yeah. That's something it was bothering her more than she would admit. Since Leah said she needed time to evaluate their relationship and the things she wanted in life led Ava to think a lot about what she wanted to.  _

_ She wasn't exactly satisfied with her choices but she was okay… What's wrong with feeling just okay?  _

_ "Well," Sara, once again, woke her up. "It's never too late to change your perspectives and be connected with what you want."  _

_ Ava sighed, blushing profusely when Sara's eyes focused intently on her face. "I suppose so."  _

_ "Let's toast then," Sara smirked, raising her glass in Ava's direction. "To find what you want."  _

_ "To find what you want," Ava whispered, slightly hitting her glass against Sara's.  _

_ They remained silent for a moment and Ava was afraid of Sara finally getting bored with her and left to find another person to hit on.  _

_ She didn't want the night to end yet.  _

_ "So," they said at the same time and chuckled together.  _

_ Ava waved a hand at Sara so she could say first. The woman changed her position again to stand in front of her.  _

_ Sara seemed to have forgotten what she was gonna say and Ava slightly tilted her head narrowing her eyes. Maybe she was having second thoughts about the flirt?  _

_ "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I was gonna say something but then I got lost in the depth of your eyes."  _

_ A smirk appeared in the corner of Sara's mouth the moment she finished her sentence and Ava blurted out a laugh. _

_ Sara's eyes softened and she smiled back taking a step closer to where Ava was. "Your smile is so beautiful," Sara said, still looking completely mesmerized by her.  _

_ "Wow…, " Ava got caught by Sara's gaze and couldn't look anywhere else. "You know, if you keep using all your pick up lines you gonna lose your—"  _

_ Sara moved quickly, pressing her lips against Ava’s. It was so forceful that Ava moaned with surprise and had to step back, her hips knocking against the counter.  _

_ Ava put a hand back against the counter to support herself as Sara deepened the kiss, and she let her other hand rest in Sara's hip for a moment, giving a soft squeeze there as if it was possible to put them closer than they already were.  _

_ Ava didn't think for a second that they were in her brother's kitchen and a very public place. She didn't care at all. As she slowly slid up her hand from Sara's hip to wrap her arm around Sara's back, all Ava could think was how good Sara's lips tasted and that she didn't want that kiss to end. _

_ She felt Sara's breasts pressed against hers, Sara's one hand was holding her neck and the other trailed down her back, stopping on her waist to trail back and wrapping Ava's back.  _

_ Now they were fully hugging while kissing. Sara tilted her head and opened her mouth, releasing a soft moan against Ava's mouth. Ava took the opportunity to slide her tongue inside Sara's mouth.  _

_ Yeah, that wasn't the way she thought her night would end. Absolutely not with one of the hottest women she has ever laid her eyes on standing on her tiptoes to kiss her.  _

_ Sara stopped the kiss and when Ava opened her mouth to protest she felt hot lips spreading sloppy kisses through the side of her neck. Ava kept her eyes closed and sighed deeply.  _

_ For a moment she thought if there could be someone watching them and that made her open her eyes rapidly while Sara was lost on the crock of her neck. She scanned the place and thanked the universe for the circumstances. People were probably too drunk to care about them and where the fridge was placed helped to hide their presence there.  _

_ Satisfied with her logic, Ava decided to let go of control and surrender to the sensations Sara was making her feel. _

* * *

Sara yawned for the third time that evening. She had finished a 32 hours shift and everything she wanted to do was take a long, hot shower and fall asleep for another 32 hours. She stopped halfway home, by the grocery, to buy some things that ran out since she returned from the holiday at Nate's parent’s house. Behrad was now living with her and it looked like he was still in his growth stage because the guy just ate everything in her kitchen.

That week had been exhaustive, which she thought was perfect to help her deal with what happened on the weekend, even though now she has huge dark circles and her hair hasn't been washed for about four days. Yeah, she was super tired but she was satisfied. Her brain would probably shut down the moment she jumped on her bed. 

She parked her car in the building parking lot and, after taking her grocery shopping from the trunk, walked towards the service elevator. Holding her bag with one arm, Sara took her phone from her pocket and picked up her sister's call. 

"What??"

_ "Hey, good morning for you too."  _

Sara sighed, nodding her head, "morning, Laurel. There's anything I could do to help you?" 

_ "Haha, cute,"  _ Her sister said on the other side of the phone. _ "Just wondering if you want to meet later for dinner."  _

"I can't," Sara replied, tilting her head to hold the phone with her shoulder to leave her hand free and get the apartment key from the backpack. "I just finished my shift, I'm way too tired to have any conversation." 

She knew why Laurel was calling her. She was curious about what had happened during the days that Sara spent with the Heywoods and why she called Laurel to pick her up so suddenly. 

Sara, of course, didn't share anything during the trip back home, just giving generals information. She planned to talk with her sister about everything that happened eventually, she wasn't capable of hiding anything from Laurel for too long. 

She just needed more time to figure her feelings out, once she does that, it would be easier to talk about without feeling like shit. 

"How about tomorrow?"She asked, holding the phone again because she hadn't been succeeded in finding the stupid key. "We can go to brunch and I'll say everything you want to know." 

The elevator stopped on her floor and she walked a few steps and then knelt, leaving her grocery shopping bag on the floor to take the backpack off her shoulder and finally get the stupid key.

Next time she will force Behrad to go with her. 

_ "Sara are you still there?" _

"Yeah, sorry, just this stupid key so hard to find."

_ "Sara?"  _ Another voice called her from across the corridor. 

Someone she was crazy to see but also afraid to see. Sara felt her heart start beating really fast and breathe deeply to cool herself. 

She raised her head and met Ava's eyes. She had an expectantly look on her face as if she was holding her breath too. 

_ "Sara, are you still there? I heard a voice,"  _ her sister insisted.  _ "I already told you tomorrow's fine by me but you never answer. Is everything okay?"  _

Sara put her backpack on her shoulder again, still holding Ava's gaze. She got up from the floor, with the keys and phone in one hand and the bag in another. 

"It's okay, Laurel. Tomorrow morning I will call you to talk about brunch." 

She hung up the phone after Laurel said goodbye and put it back in her pocket, finally walking towards her door, where Ava was standing awkwardly. Sara noticed the other woman's cheeks flustering and smiled at her. 

"Hey." 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much,
> 
> To everyone who is reading this story, thank you for the kudos and comments. You guys are the best!!
> 
> Soon the last chapter will be updated ;)
> 
> Have fun and be safe!

**Author's Note:**

> Did you like it? 
> 
> Let me know :)


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